Ella Maillart

The benefits of the accomplished journey cannot be weighed in terms of perfect moments, but in terms of how this journey affects and changes our character. ”

It is always our own self that we find at the end of the journey. The sooner we face that self, the better. ”

I can see now that a concept or even a feeling makes no sense unless out of our substance we spin around it a web of references, of relationships, of values. ”

I gained direct knowledge of the life of the poor in big towns: I have lived the narrowing mechanism of its conditioning and feared it. ”

One travels so as to learn once more how to marvel at life in the way a child does. And blessed be the poet, the artist who knows how to keep alive his sense of wonder. ”

That idea of escapism... these words could sum up my life. ”

From the beginning, I wanted to live my own life, and patiently I shored up that desire against wind and tide. ”

Certain travellers give the impression that they keep moving because only then do they feel fully alive. ”

The usual channels of university studies or secretarial work did not appeal to me. I cherished difficult dreams through confidence in myself. ”

I had to live in the desert before I could understand the full value of grass in a green ditch. ”